Council warns residents of link between hate crime and hateful extremism

During National Hate Crime Awareness Week, Wokingham Borough Council has urged residents to stay safe online, highlighting the link between hate crime and hateful extremism as many incidents now take place online.

The council said: "Hateful extremism is behaviour that can incite and amplify hate, or when someone engages in persistent hatred motivated by hostile or supremacist beliefs. It often involves the justification of violence to cause harm to individuals or communities."

Cllr Ian Shenton, executive member for environment, sport and leisure, said: “Much like hate crime, we all have a part to play in protecting people from extremism and radicalisation. Groups often target individuals when they are vulnerable, saying they understand their pain and want to help them, when in reality they are seeking to spread hate and use that person for their own gain.

“If you are a parent or carer and you are worried about your child being exposed to extremism, talk to them about hate speech, engage with them about what they are doing online and consider installing controls on their devices, or agree how much time they should spend online.”

The council warned that extremists are active on social media and they actively target children and young people, when spreading their ideology.

The council listed warning signs to look out for including becoming withdrawn and no longer participating in usual activities, expressing feelings of anger, grievance and injustice, going missing from their home, school or care setting, joining a new group of friends who have extremist ideologies, using language that supports “us and them” model of thinking and possessing or searching for extremist literature online.

The council is working with the police and parties in health, probation services, schools and colleges to reduce the threat of radicalisation.